Toyota lawsuits: Attorneys need to prove autos had design flaw

As Toyota Motor Corp. chips away at settling lawsuits claiming its vehicles suddenly accelerate, the question remains whether attorneys who sued could prove to a jury there was a design flaw.

The company maintains stuck accelerator pedals, faulty floor mats and driver error are the reasons for vehicles unexpectedly surging, while plaintiffs' attorneys contend Toyota's electronic throttle control system is to blame.

Recent settlements totaling more than $1 billion by Toyota to resolve numerous lawsuits involving economic loss and a few involving wrongful death claims may signal that the automaker doesn't want to risk coming out on the losing end of a potentially costly court decision.

"A bad loss in a jury trial would inflict lasting damage to Toyota in loss of public confidence," said Los Angeles-based attorney Christine Spagnoli, who has won several multimillion-dollar verdicts against automakers over safety defects. "I believe Toyota will continue to look for better opportunities to get a win."

Torrance is home to Toyota's U.S. sales and marketing headquarters.

The company said Thursday it settled a lawsuit with the family of two people killed in a Utah crash that was set to go to trial next month and serve as a test case for hundreds of others that are pending.

Terms of the agreement weren't released, but it comes just weeks after Toyota agreed to pay more than $1 billion to settle lawsuits where vehicle owners said the value of their cars and SUVs plummeted after the company recalled millions of vehicles because of sudden-acceleration issues.

In the Utah case, Paul Van Alfen and his son's fiancee, Charlene Jones Lloyd, were killed when their Camry slammed into a wall near Wendover, Utah. in 2010. The Utah Highway Patrol concluded based on statements from witnesses and the crash survivors that the gas pedal was stuck.

It was the first so-called "bellwether" case, before a federal judge in Orange County, chosen to help predict the potential outcome of other lawsuits making similar allegations.

"This is like taking an aspirin when you have a migraine," Mason said. "Each of these cases has to be weighed on their own merit. I will be surprised if some don't get tried."

Toyota continues to be dogged by sudden-acceleration issues that arose four years ago. Last month the U.S. government hit the company with a record $17.4 million fine for failing again to quickly report problems to federal regulators and for delaying a safety recall. More than 150,000 2010 Lexus Rx 350s and RX 450h models were recalled because the driver's-side floor mats can trap the gas pedal and cause the vehicles to speed up without warning.

Toyota has recalled more than 14 million vehicles globally to fix sticky gas pedals and floor mats. The company also paid a total of $48.8 million in fines for three violations in 2010.